Translating Postbox

We use Narro, an open source web application that allows multiple people to help translate Postbox at the same time. You don't need to install any software, using just your browser you can help make Postbox available in your language!

Getting Started

Register an account on Narro by clicking the Register link in the upper right corner.

Once logged in, click on the “Preferences” link in the upper-right corner, and adjust your preferences:

Language - the language you want to translate to

Special Characters - characters that are not availble on your keyboard layout and that you would want to access quickly.

Items per Page - we recommend setting this to 100.

Save your preferences and then you may need to change the 'Translating In' menulist to switch to your language.

Now click on the Projects link in the upper right corner and click "Postbox 3.x" from the list of projects. Then, click on the "Postbox 3.x" link in the upper left hand corner.

In the new page that is displayed you will see a drop-down list named "Show" that allows you to filter the list of strings.

Select Untranslated texts to see all of the strings that need to be localized. Click on the “Suggest/Vote” link to the right of a string to translate it.

Enter your translation in the “Your suggestion” textbox, click the “Save” button and then "Next" to go to the next string.

A word for the German translators: please use the formal addressing of the user, meaning the use of "Sie" instead of "du".

What NOT To Translate

There are some things that should not be translated including:

Non Mail Strings - Don't worry about translating or suggesting changes to files outside of the mail directory as those are all inherited from the mozilla translations.

%S, %1$S, %2$S - anything that looks like this with a % in it means it's a place holder for a string to get substituted in dynamically (such as You have %1$S unread messages) and needs to remain in the translated string.

Branding Strings - for instance Postbox should not be translated

Command Keys - entities and properties that end in .key and .commandKey. These are supposed to be the same throughout all translations.

Interface Sizes - entries like 36em or width: 45em; height: 32em. These define the size of dialogs and are there for you to adjust the dialogs if needed by your localization. Translating them will only make them stop working.

true / false - several entities have values like true or false - these are actually used to effect the behavior and are not strings to translate.

Numbers - if the string is just a number like 900 or 900ch or 900em do not translate it.

FAQ

Why is my language not listed?

We are just getting our localization process going and have picked the current set of languages to start with as we test out our system. Over time we'll be adding more locales to Narro as we all get more comfortable with the system.

How can I help translate the start page and the website?

Right now we are focused on getting the product translations up and running before tackling the website.

Questions

Please signup for our localization newsletter where we'll send out notices such as when language packs for a localization become available. For technical issues with Narro and translating Postbox email us at
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